Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

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Shadow of Mordor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFgvvgGEpkQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io-eD1Mtc7U

Putting aside the ruining of the Lord of the Rings lore that this game committed, doesn’t the gameplay simply look marvelous? Gorgeous character design and graphics, sweet-ass combat that pulls no punches, free-climbing, mounts which you can ride in battle, sneaking/stealth options, intrigues/power struggles/political maneuvering(!), army management, smexy RPG elements, weapon upgrade system, procedurally generated enemy commanders who react complexly to your interaction wit them and so on, and so on.
I can barely wait until October rolls around! I think this game will definitely be a nice distraction from the wait for The Witcher 3 and if they actually deliver on everything that they have claimed so far then it might even be up there with TW3 for me.
 
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I really think this could be a real sleeper hit this year and possible GOTY contender. The combat looks fun, as it should and the Nemesis system sounds marvelous and it's systems like the Nemesis System that I really want to see more of, what with this new generation of consoles. I just can't wait to get my hands on it in October.
 
If we're up in a fuss about crossbows, dismemberment and Yennefer's 50 shades of brown, I laugh to think what LoTR boards are saying about this game and lore.

Regardless, it looks fun.
 
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I have gradualy become more interested and impressed the more I have read and seen on this game. Gonna wait for official and people reviews before I make my decision whether or not to get it.
 
I would be so interested in this if it wasn't such a complete lore rape.
Us Tolkien fans will just have to ignore that aspect and pretend that this is ANOTHER Middle-Earth and ANOTHER Dark Lord with a ring of power :p

Seriously, this game is shaping up to be too good to pass up.
 
Come on, of course it’s a bunch of horseshit lore-wise but we all knew that from the first trailer :p
 
Just a dream? Maybe, but a freaking awesome dream!

Just watch this video interview (entertaining as hell, btw, but that's not the point):


Have you heard the very last question that guy asked (CDPR is also mentioned during the interview)? Don't you think a collaboration between Monolith and CD Projekt RED would be awesome??
Hell no, I think it would be l-e-g-e-n-d-a-r-y!
Hope they'll actually take that into consideration!
 
This is gonna blow. How the fuck does one mess a LOTR game? Such a universe has so much potential yet no one does anything good with it.
 
A game about Gwaith-i-Mírdain sounds interesting, but to make it good story-wise they'll have to work hard.

Far too melodramatic for my tastes. It doesn't capture the spirit of the books at all.
There are a lot of melodramatic moments in The Silmarillion. And the story of Celebrimbor is barely touched in the Lord of the Rings. The whole history of the Feanor's family is like a big melodrama, so that's not so surprising really.
 
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Despite all the horrible things happening in the LOTR universe I think the violence in this game is out of place.
 
Despite all the horrible things happening in the LOTR universe I think the violence in this game is out of place.

Tolkien's work has a far away, mythic quality. Often it's whimsical. This game is in your face and gritty. They're clearly taking a cue from Jackson whose first two movies have some merit, but none of his efforts have captured the spirit of the books. And I'm not even getting into the fact they are completely ripping off Batman and Asscreed.
 
Tolkien's work has a far away, mythic quality. Often it's whimsical./QUOTE]

That's a very good description. In fact this was my thesis for my undergraduate paper. Basically, many rituals in many cultures invoke this mythical time to heal the mind and the body, the time when the gods created the world, the sacred time. I realized that Tolkien's universe does the same thing, it projects the reader in the long forgotten past, when the world was not as corrupt in order to mend his spirit.

Here is a similarity, a part of an australian ritual ”The World was broken ,but when I will begin to drag this staff across the earth, all the cracks will be filled and the world will be whole again” and "The earth that was overturned will be put back in its place. People will live longer and will be stronger". I find these two quotes are very similar to:

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

Now of course this is Bilbo's poem to Aragorn, a prophecy that foretells a return to the mythical age, when the world was less corrupt, with Aragorn as the exemplary harbinger. It is no surprise that LOTR became so popular in the wake of the hippie movement. After WW2 and during Vietnam man has finally realized what he has lost and wants to reclaim his soul by reciting the deeds of long forgotten heroes from a "possible" mythical age. It ALMOST becomes a prayer and therefore the reader is not just an observer but in a way becomes an actor. I think Tolkien did something similar but in a way that is not ostentatious and preachy and palatable to a modern audience, which is why it's so popular (aside from epic orc battles :D)

I am not getting this feeling from the trailer. At best, it retains some of the atmosphere. It's perfectly fine if it's missing from other games but I expect it in a LOTR game. The only thing that was close to this was an extremely ambitious Skyrim mod called Middle Earth Role-Playing Project...Sadly, they got a cease and desist letter from Warner Brother right before they finished Rohan...Guess I'll have to settle for Skyrim and Oblivion.

I hope this is relevant, interesting and coherent. I got carried away a bit.

Yeah, visuals are obviously taken from Jackson.

I don't really think so. The films weren't nearly as violent.
 
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Tolkien was never really explicit in terms of violence but it certainly did exist. I am thankful they are portraying it.

Also Celebrimbor, bloody hell yeah.
 
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